In downtown Montreal, in response to longstanding requests for a dance centre in Quebec, the Espace danse Wilder Building has finally arisen. Centred on the historic brick façade of the 1918 Wilder Building, a former furniture factory and office, it?s eleven storeys high and half a block long. The architects, a consortium of Lapointe Magne and Ædifica, have not transformed the building into a seamless iconic sculpture, but that was never their intention. Instead, new additions break up this potential monolith into shifting, multi-storey boxes. Passersby might take it for three buildings collaged together side-by-side. A jumble, even. But make no mistake: the fragmentation is a sophisticated and characteristically Montrealish way of using architecture to make a city. Each element in the collage responds to a pragmatic decision about budgets and clients, honed with only as much precision as was worthwhile. Does it work" That depends on whether you value architecture more as a way to engage with the city than as a way to embellish it. Embellishment is fine, but engagement done like this is better. Espace Danse Wilder Building. Photo by David Boyer.
Espace danse groups together four dance companies: Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, l?Agora de la danse, Tangente, and l?École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. It also has four floors of offices for two Quebec government ministries (the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec and the Conseil d...